The truth of the last case
by And26169
Summary: A one-shot set just after the end of Trials and Tribulations. It covers why Phoenix doesn't meet with the Feys much in the 8 years after disembarrment. During the trial of the "true culprit" (spoilers) there is another turnabout Phoenix wasn't expecting. Now has another one shot containing what actually happened, written by Pearl (as she was there the whole time).
1. Turnabout unexpected: the truth revealed

**This is based a little theory I made back in Return to Kurain. "Was ? ? the real culprit in Bridge to the Turnabout?" There's plenty of evidence so I decided to present it here. You'll never see the culprit the same way again. Of course, still writing it in the style of a courtroom debate to fit the definition of "fanfiction".**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Capcom, Trials and Tribulations, or any of the characters.**

It was after the victory in tres bein that the group were called in for Godot's trial. It was almost instant. Wright was about have a prosecution track record better than Manfred Von Karma. 100.00% victories. The judge declared his verdict.

"I hereby declare the defendant, Diego Armando:"

 **Hold it!**

A boy, no more than 7 years old, stepped down from the gallery. "This man's explanation doesn't quite work. Godot can't see without his mask, so how did he find it after it was knocked off? Also, the killer was still hit by a small blood splash from the wound in Misty's body. It wasn't him!"

Phoenix cringed at this well made explanation. (This is even more insult to injury than losing to Payne. I need to think of a counterargument!)

 **Objection!**

"If Godot didn't do it; who did? May I ask?" Phoenix bluffed. He prayed the boy had no answer.

He did have an answer.

Profiles - Pearl Fey (Age: 9) "Younger cousin of Maya Fey. Next in line for master of Kurain. Channelling prodigy. Was unwillingly plotting to assassinate Maya at the time." **Take That!**

"The real killer is Pearl Fey! She's the only suspect left."

Phoenix was shocked. "WHAAAAT! I know she said it was all her fault but... But... But she couldn't have done it because umm... She urr... She didn't have a light source with her! How did she see in the dark without a torch?" (Please work? This may be my last chance to save Pearls. Please don't let this fall through...)

The boy simply replied, "trick question. She _did_ have a torch. I had a look around the garden while the police were busy unlocking the gate with Iris. I was bored OK? Anyway, I found this green pocket torch." **(For the record, this green thing was just in front of the cleared out snow. You can't interact with it but it's there.)**

Green torch submitted into evidence.

Phoenix was quick to reply, "And how can I know this evidence isn't forged?"

The boy simply replied, "What's forged evidence? And how do I get some because it sounds awesome!"

The judge interjected. "It seems as though this boy does not understand the concept of forged evidence, Mr. Wright." He then turned to the boy. "Forged evidence is where a person gets a piece of evidence by making it himself or making an irrelevant piece of evidence 'relevant'. They then lie about the evidence to make their case.

"Some people lie in court just to make a case? And they call this the halls of justice and other posh stuff? Why can't we just let the truth come to light here? And nothing else!" The boy still failed to grasp the concept of forged evidence.

Phoenix tried to save the case, "Maybe one of the police members wanted to cover for Godot, and brought the torch to the crime scene. The technical term for that is 'evidence planting'. That way, someone else, you in this case, can bring it into the court, genuinely thinking the evidence is legitimate, and they'll end up taking the punishment if people find out it's forged."

They boy was shocked. "THAT'S SO MEAN! I can't think of any members of the police force nasty enough to do such a nasty thing, now that Chief Gant and Manfred Von Karma are gone and Lana is in jail."

"In other words, there's no motive for forging the evidence. I hereby sustain your objection." The judge was taking the boy's side, he knew of the goings on in the police department.

Phoenix was now sweating like a pig at the slaughterhouse. "So there was a torch at the crime scene. Are you sure it wasn't accidentally dropped. I wouldn't put it beyond Gumshoe to mess up like that."

The boy replied. "Fair point... Or it would be if there weren't bloodstains on the torch!" He smiled sadistically as he knew he pulled out a trump card. Gumshoe wasn't injured.

Phoenix knew he was out of hope regarding this argument. "OK, the torch is valid. However Pearls has an alibi. She was asleep. She told me herself. Can you prove otherwise?"

Evidence - Stone lantern (Type: other) "Has Maya written in blood on the side" **Take That!**

"The stone lantern has writing on the side. Who wrote it? Not Godot, he can't see the writing; not Dahlia, she was either busy attacking Maya or locked in the sacred cavern; not Maya, she had her back to the lantern; and not the police force investigating, they wanted it to not exist! Who's left? Pearl Fey. She was awake enough to write oLoW on the lantern, so she was awake enough to impale someone!"

Phoenix was caught off guard. (Th-that's... Completely decisive if you look at it like that!) He then decided to throw out a bluff. **Objection!**

"Pearl Fey isn't strong enough to lift a sword bigger than her!"

"She is. One, Godot is unable to lift the sword due to his central nervous system complications. Two, she is able to run from Kurain to the courtroom in under two hours, if legends are to be believed."

"A legend? She just did that because she didn't know what a train was! Oh wait... That makes her a marathon world record holder and more than fit enough to hold the sword. Darn!"

"See. I have a point. She could have done it, and she is the only person who could have done it." The boy had the upper hand. Again. "While I'm at it, has she denied committing the crime to anyone? Is she a little worried someone may catch her lying."

"Criminy! I... She... How did you know about the magatama?"

"Maga-what-a? She knew you had a lie detector? That explains her lack of denial."

"How did you...?" Phoenix was creeped out by the boy's lucky guess.

"I can hear emotion in people's voices, meaning I know what people are thinking some of the time. It can get _really_ awkward. My name is Justin Cykes. I knew Pearl was hiding something by how she was so quiet. Lie detectors only work if a person actually says something." **This was just to get around how Justin shouldn't be able to read blue text normally, and the fact he doesn't know about the magatama.**

"I think we all know what this implies." Justin continued, "She's trying to distance herself from the case, so the court, the gallery, and the media are played for fools." The media... Both sides of the fourth wall.

"Everyone was covering for you, Pearl Fey. However, the truth will always come to light!"

Evidence - sacred urn (Type: broken) "I've broken it, Mia's broken it, Andrews has broken it. This might as well be a pinata!" **Objection!**

Pearl was now defending herself. "This urn, I was clumsy enough to break this and mess up fixing it. If I were to wield the sword, I'd miss and fall over!"

It was the boy's turn to be caught off guard. "Ack! I can't say you're lying on this one! But... Maybe you got lucky and hit by sheer chance?"

"Unlikely. I'd have to be facing the right direction first, which I wasn't. If the spear was thrown as the evidence suggests; I would be hitting Misty from the **side**. This contradicts the autopsy report."

"Well, if you were really focused on saving Maya, you would go for Dahlia's flank, probably miss and trip, and lunge at her **again**. Two attempts should be enough for even an amateur to hit an open target with an unwieldy sword. Besides, doesn't your argument also apply to Godot, as he had damaged his everything with poison."

"Oh..." (How does he know about everything? Not only does he figure out _that_ I did it, but also _how_ I did it?! Impossible!) "Well, um, ah..."

"While I'm at it, I might as well mention that Godot is too weak to clear up the crime scene himself, so you had to have helped shovelling the snow and swinging the body over eagle river. That's also when you wrote oLoW on the lantern. But, I need to ask one question: why write on the lantern?"

"...!" (Time to feign ignorance. I actually signed the crime scene just in case Maya were indicted so I would be the one who's implicated for the whole thing.) "Umm.. I-I can't tell you as I didn't do it. However, I can tell you one thing...

The fact that two wrongs don't make a Wright!"

Blue and white lines appeared behind Pearl as the camera zoomed into her hair. The cornered theme started playing.

Justin was stuck. "I-I guess revenge is just as bad as committing the crime yourself but... Doesn't the law protect us?"

"No. It certainly doesn't protect the ones on the wrong end of it!"

Justin then saw an opening. "Aren't political discussions supposed to be left for the court of appeal? The job here is to find out who murdered Misty Fey. And that is you! You'd need a _miracle_ to worm your way out of this one..."

He then dealt a finishing blow. "Your fans will never forgive you! Never! EVER!"

Pearl was stuck. She had been proven beyond all reasonable doubt as guilty. The judge decided to end the trial.

"That was quite the turnabout, but I see no need to further prolong this case. I hereby declare the defendant, Diego Armando:"

NOT GUILTY

Confetti rained down on the courtroom as the innocent Iris walked free. However, "the steel samurai's ballad" started playing in Phoenix's head as he walked out of the courtroom.

These were Phoenix's thoughts afterwards:

And just like that, the case came to an end.

I ran away from the courtroom... and wandered the streets alone.

I never saw Maya again.

The police are men of their words, so I'm sure they released her as promised.

I heard the verdict of Ms. Fey's trial a few days later.

She was found guilty, of course.

The "miracle" never happen.

Maybe it was never meant to.

Because a "miracle" is something that doesn't exist.

I, as a lawyer, can cry. Because it's all over...

No-one ever found the reason why Pearl Fey eluded everyone in the whole court. Only the fact that she did. Of course there had to be one person in the gallery who can make an observation that good. I won my case and the truth got out, but the end doesn't justify the means. There was more evidence placed against Pearls in her trial. She used Maya's uniform to cover the bloodstain on her clothes, which is why she had filled up the incinerator enough to not burn her letter properly. It was also found that she did confess the crimes to me.

However, at the end of the trial: Maya apparently pulled out a trump card. She channelled Misty and Misty forgave Pearls, thanking her for saving Maya. I may want to see them again at some point.

Maybe I'll meet them in future, but for now I have no companions. It looks like I have a new client: Zak Gramareye.

 **Yes, the whole Zak thing was to make this whole story fit into the canon. It** _ **would**_ **explain why Phoenix made no attempt to claim his forged evidence was planted, and was disbarred. It also explains why Phoenix doesn't meet up with Maya and Pearl much over the following 8 years. He had no motivation.**


	2. What actually happened - By Pearl Fey

**Author's notes: I decided to write my (or rather, Pearl's) account on what actually happened on the inner temple side that night. Yeah, yeah. I know this was** _ **supposed**_ **to be a one-shot but this was just something I couldn't resist putting in.**

 **Oh, if you notice any contradictions with the evidence in this account of how things happened, be sure to leave a review saying how wrong I am!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing referenced in the story.**

There is a lot of muddle on this issue so I'll do my best to clear up the inn-con-siss-ten-cees. This is what happened on the inner temple side over the course of that night...

I will start at the beginning, moving across the bridge. I was carrying the gravy over the wobbly thing (with both hands!), so I needed my head-torch to see the planks that my life hinged on top of. I had the note hanging out of my robe's belt as I tried to balance my way across.

When I reached the inner temple, I put the gravy down and tried to channel that "Dahlia" girl. She looked quite nice, so I wasn't suss-pish-us of her. But, mystic Misty had already taken her spirit before I had the chance, what a meanie!

After many failed channelling attempts, I heard mystic Maya scream for help. As I can run pretty fast. Well, faster than Mr. Nick, anyway. I reached her before Dahlia had the chance to kill mystic Maya. She was being so horrible, so I had to stop her! I was still wearing my head torch, thanks to the useless darkness. I saw a shiny thing next to Maya so I grabbed it and realised it was a sword. How come no-one has thought of this before? It stumped me!

Anyway, I thrust the sword at Dahlia's belly, and, thanks to my urn-smashing clumsiness, completely missed her! I was stupid. That Godot guy wouldn't have missed like me. He would have slashed Dahlia, straight in the front.

However, I then took a second try, and drove the sword right through Dahlia. I'm not sure that's how I'm supposed to use a sword but whatever I did, worked. She fainted, and un-channelled herself. Mystic Misty was in for quite the shock! She was stabbed and had her daughter falling asleep right in front of her! She quickly turned around in panic, but didn't expect my short height, and instead of hitting me, she broke my head torch.

I screamed at this realisation. Mystic Maya heard this as a male voice as she was slipping into unconsciousness because her perception of time slowed down, reducing the pitch of the sound she heard. With a scientific conclusion: I've been spending too much time with Ema...

Mystic Misty then collapsed on the ground. There was red snot on my purple outer robe, all over mystic Maya's inner robe, and all over mystic Misty in general. It was diss-guss-ting. My head torch, covered in red snot, fell to the ground in a heap.

After all this, Godot the slow-coach arrived. Do people actually run that slow or was he not really trying to save mystic Maya? **(Pearl, it's the FORMER!)** Anyway, he knew what was going on and predicted that mystic Maya would be blamed for my actions... I don't know why he thought that. Mr. Nick would save her out of true love even if there were 100 murder charges on mystic Maya. Mum, don't get any bad ideas from this!

We had a little chat, then Godot decided to get us to team up and save mystic Maya. We started by lifting her into the inner temple where she could survive the cold. Because my outer robe, and her inner robe and belt, were covered in red snot. That and the fact there was a full set of dry Hazakura Temple brand robes for mystic Maya after she beats the special course: I undressed her (annoyingly, Mr. Nick was absent. I could have permanently got out of master's duties if it weren't for that stupid bridge burning!) and shoved the Hazakura clothes on her.

This gave me a non-bloodstained outer robe! I was now clad in "non-suspect" medium's robes. Or at least, that's roughly what Godot said. I also burnt the old clothes along with the note. It turned out I didn't quite do it properly and the note wouldn't burn. The incinerator was packed so I shouldn't be surprised, though.

While this was happening, mystic Maya channelled mystic Mia. It took the two quite some time to share notes, enter the cave, lock themselves in, and channel Dahlia. But, they were too fast for me.

I then arrived back at the garden, ready to clean up some mess. We teamed up to lift mystic Misty to the bridge, only to see that it was on fire. I didn't know that would make me trapped in this lonely place. I just didn't know what it meant! I'm so sorry!

Godot called mystic Iris, and she went to the other side of the bridge. I kept mystic Misty in my arms while he tied rope around her. It turns out I was very lucky not to get red snot all over my robes. They _were_ the only set I had at the time!

However, my clumsiness struck again, and I accidentally dropped mystic Misty. It was all my fault... Again! She flew under the bridge as the rope quickly flung itself from her. She then flew gracefully across the water, landing high on the perch of snow. Iris then sorted out the issues on her side. I helped Godot clean up the red snot while Dahlia was locked up in the sacred cavern.

While we were working, I decided to play a little prank on the police, and sign the lantern in red snot. **(Note: Pearl is the only one who could have written this. Everyone else has an alibi for the crime of graffiti)** Oh boy did it confuse them! Godot couldn't see the writing, which is what almost got him convicted in the end. But, luckily, Justin managed to step up at the last minute and let the truth out. It finally wasn't Mr. Nick doing all the hard work for the truth!

After this, I heard a little ruckus on the other side of the bridge, and ran over there. I then saw Mr. Nick run across the unstable thing. I could barely walk across, and he tried to run to save mystic Maya. Such a beautiful act of true love. But he was silly and fell through the bridge.

After all this, I tried a few more times in the temple to channel Dahlia... And failed completely. I then drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, I saw the bridge had magically disappeared! I didn't know what to do so I ran aimlessly around the inner temple side. I was very bored, cold, and hungry, but I had to keep warm. I kept this up for a day, then the police swarmed into the area. I ran to the loser's shack, which is where I met Laurice.

The police and Mr. Nick could see the green lump that was my head-torch, but they didn't think anything of it (well, except Justin) and couldn't be bothered to submit it into evidence. **(Note, this green lump is visible, just in front of the cleared snow. You can't interact with it, though)**

/

I will now pick up at the trial. Everyone made sure not to mention me, and ignore any remarks the judge made about me. No-one suspected me of my actions. The only reason anyone knew I was there was because I channelled mystic Mia. I was hidden from the court, until Justin remembered I was there and connected the dots.

I was ignored, if not shown as a "victim". Mr. Nick was silly enough to think that, just because I said I was asleep, without mentioning a time, meant I had an al-ee-bye. He also hasn't realised that the magatama can't show two sets of locks on the same person at the same time, which is why he didn't see my deep, dark secret. I had another one that had psyche locks to break. This is why Ini never had locks on her name.

Another thing. I said I was all alone. I didn't mean on the night of the murder. I was taking about the next day when I had no-one to talk to or anything. Then, I truly was all alone!

Mysic Maya did see me, but she covered for me. When she said "man", meaning person, she pretended it actually was a slip of the tongue and not a wording fail. Excellent work, mystic Maya. You managed to fool everyone there! Except Justin...

However, Mr. Nick was very sad at me being the culprit and the truth finding it's way out. I should probably meet him some time.

I've said it twice, and I'll say it again: "It was all my fault!"

7 Years Later

Ah, I've seen Mr. Nick again. He's got his badge back, and now he's clearing a girl about my age of a murder charge in an area only a few people could enter, where a prosecutor witnessed the whole thing and took the murder charge to cover for the girl. However, the truth of the girl's guilt (in theory) was revealed and the prosecutor was saved. This seems oddly familiar...

Anyway, he's now a famed lawyer and the one who "will always get the truth out and end prejudice in the legal system." It seems like everyone's forgotten about my case. Looks like it truly is the dark age of the law, where only the prejudices of others can save you.

 **Author's notes. Firstly, the only time Pearl would see blood is coming out of Phoenix's nose after she slapped him. Hence "red snot".**

 **Secondly, was UR-1 an elaborate reference to this case? It happened at around the same time with similar suspects (prosecutor + 9-year-old girl). Come to think of it, swinging across the pendulum bridge would be a** **fearless** **escape route requiring a** **long jump** **at the end...**

 **Finally, I thought I'd bring up the dark age of the law as this case greatly resembles this. Prejudice in the USA compromises the legal system, causing distrust and... OH # ?7! Th-that's actually happening. This game predicted the rise of selfies and the later ones predicted the prejudice scandal in the U- no, the whole world? Welp. We're screwed, then...**


End file.
